Warm My Heart
by Ngoc Chau
Summary: He wondered why she was so warm. He felt her heart beat under his hand and she began rubbing her hands over his wrists too. Almost romantic, he composed in his head about how he had in his hands his daughter's, his creation's, life. Mayuri x Nemu fluff
1. Cold

**Ngoc Chau does not own Bleach.**

**I hope you enjoy this and please read and review!**

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><p><strong>Prompt: Cold<strong>

He was always cold.

There was something about his skin that made him all the more sensitive to the air; his face demanded paint over it to fill the pores and eased him into knowing that nothing could leak through the surface, the mask and hat to make sure he was well covered. Even one accident involving his ears convinced him to cover more of himself.

He was always cold, he could feel it even in the summer when some of the shinigami had to roll up their sleeves when going outside, he would tighten the scarf around his neck even more. Even now, he was trying to develop a serum for himself that could render his skin as invulnerable to the cold as to pain. He damned himself for going out of his laboratory. What was so special about this one specimen that he was braving snow and frost to go out to look for it when he simply could've sent one of his subordinates or even sent in a request to the Soutaichou to have one of the divisions go after the specimen for him?  
>Oh right… It was a hollow.<p>

Obviously, the Gotei 13 wouldn't take to his experimenting on hollows well, but this one was special, he knew it. It had a most fascinating ability to imitate shinigami, how ingenious, and had already devoured three shinigami. He wanted to know how its abilities could allow it such a trait: some hollows could cast a glamour or lure, but to actually imitate? He wanted to cut it into pieces to know what differentiated is from the other hollow.  
>Perhaps he could find the cause and use it to create a sort of technology that would have shinigami imitate hollows without hollowfication in order to make it easier to catch and slay hollows. Could that Urahara Kisuke have thought of something like that?<p>

A sudden harsh wind blew his way and Mayuri brought his arms closer to himself, his teeth chattering. Though everyone in the division was bundled up, the cold still felt extremely unforgiving.

He yelled, pointing in the direction of where a strong source of spiritual energy was coming from, "Hurry up and catch it! We're wasting precious time just standing out here!" That and it was fucking cold, to boot.

As his division went forward, Mayuri halted in his tracks for a few moments. He took off the gloves he wore and tried to breathe life into those frozen hands of his. A few of the members and scientists looked back at him.  
>He waved his alabaster hand towards them, "Just go!"<p>

He didn't want them to think he was so weak in the snow, but it was just too cold to bear. He honestly wanted to give this up and go home, wait perhaps until it was warmer. But the temptation of how this new hollow suddenly came from nowhere and its conquest of three shinigami as well as its ability to evade and disguise itself was too tempting. There had been another case where some thug-like Hollow like that had simply evaded the Seireitei for three months before he was killed by the Ryoka, Kurosaki. He was not going to risk losing a valuable specimen like that to that Ryoka!

He tried to breathe into his hands, but the modifications he made to his body to aid him in camoflauge had hindered the strength of his breath when he blew.

Then there was a small voice behind him, "Mayuri-sama."

He didn't bother looking back, still breathing heavily into his hands, trying to warm them up at least. Nemu came around, standing in front of him.

"Nemu. What do you want?" he asked harshly with his hands still over his mouth.

She took off her gloves and put them into her pockets, then blew into her own hands as he was doing. With some hesitation, she took his hands in hers and kneaded them. He noticed that her hands were warm, burning almost. He made a mental note to himself to conduct more tests when they go back to the Seireitei. He had never noticed that she could be this warm. Enjoying the feeling of his skin rubbing over his bones and nerves, he breathed out long and deep.

Nemu brought his hands to her mouth and she began blowing hot air as she rubbed. With warm breaths, she asked him to just unzip a few inches of her coat so that she could aid him as efficiently as possible.

He felt to be in no position of yelling and did as she asked.

She moved his hands to encircle around her neck and that was simply bliss for him. It was a captivating warmth like water surrounding his hands. Goodness, he wondered why she was so warm. He felt her heart beat under his hand and she began rubbing her hands over his wrists too. Almost romantic, he composed in his head a brief word about how he had in his hands his daughter's, his creation's, life.

Difficult almost to resists, he removed his hands from her neck as soon as he felt that he could perhaps endure the cold a bit longer for the pursuit of the specimen.

She asked him as she zipped up her coat and helped him in putting on his gloves before she put on hers, "Are your hands warmer, Mayuri-sama?"

He said nothing to answer her, but moved past her to see if his division had at least found the Hollow.

She followed two steps behind him.

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><p><strong>How was that? If you have any ideas for prompts, please leave it in a review or send it in a PM to me please.<strong>


	2. Ice

**Ngoc Chau does not own Bleach.**

**Really this is a filler, but it's still sort of Mayuri/Nemu if you squint real hard! **

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><p><strong>Prompt: Ice<strong>

Mayuri never depended on anyone else's zanpakuto, let alone his own creation's. And so he had told her to leave it back at the Seireitei for she was not really a shinigami designed for swordplay(though she was more than capable with than most, he boasted when he first created her) and he often used her as a decoy. As he had suspected and planned for, it had her in its jaws. He had taken a precaution in stuffing her body with drugs and medicine for this particular trip, knowing that it was imperative to bring back the specimen alive. After finding the Hollow eating an unfortunate hiker's soul, it turned its attention to the group of shinigami stalking closer to it. It had ran and ran, those who were capable of shunpo were able to come close after it, wile those who had yet to attain the ability made it their responsibility to keep the storage cart ready to bring back to the Seireitei. Nemu knew what was her duty for this trip, to always be the first one on the frontlines and she had done it.

Now there was a static silence as the entire expedition group observed the suppressed pain of their Lieutenant, of her muffled gasping and body spasms.

She knew what Mayuri had expected of her and threw herself in front of the Hollow, to first subdue it with her bare hands first and if that was not successful…

The Hollow closed its massive jaws around her chest and there was a louder crunch and a louder scream to accompany it.

Mayuri snarled at the standing bunch, "Don't just stand there, you imbeciles! Take it down alive!"

One of the head scientists, who had transferred to the 12th division just a few years ago, reached for his zanpakuto and called out, "Shine white, scatter red: Shiroi Fukushu!" The zanpakuto resembled something like a gauntlet with extended claws. As his claws swept through the snow and sent it flying at the Hollow, enveloping it in ice, the others began to follow his example by drawing their own zanpakuto and trying to incapacitate it. Nemu then struggled to get out of the Hollow's mouth, but in doing so, the Hollow just increased the pressure of its teeth. Then there was another crunch and Nemu was still.

"Fukutaicho!" one of them called for her. The Hollow, its arms bound by the power of the zanpakuto, smashed its head onto the ice on which it stood and dove beneath into the waters.

"What do we do now?" one of them asked.

Mayuri reached into his pockets and threw onto the ice, bombs. As it exploded and cracked, the Hollow burst through, his head held upwards. However, Nemu wasn't in its jaws. Had she been eaten whole, he wondered. If so, what drug would work its magic on the Hollow first?

Reader, the Hollow had put up a good fight, but a hollow is never any good against a group of shinigami. They were able to at least bring it to its belly and keep it from running, but the monster was still dangerous as long as it moved. Its tail thrashed everywhere and it hit against the ice, sending it back into the watery depths. Mayuri was cold and he was getting tired of this little game. In fact, he was now possibly considering just chopping it into bits and salvaging that instead of keeping the thing alive.

The Hollow burst out of the waters again and somehow it appeared to be tipsy. Mayuri was glad that something was actually going well today. The 12th division saw their opportunity and chased after it, dragging it back to be captured.

As Mayuri was about to go after the beast as well, a sudden splashing had him look rose from the waters, gasping and shaking. Something in him struck and he actually found himself going towards his lieutenant. But the Hollow somehow avoided the researchers and intercepted him in front of Nemu. Not willing to divert from what he was planning, one hand went to his zanpakuto while the other twisted the cone over his ear and pulled out his hidden kurasarigama. He planned to kill two birds with one stone: he would get both his Lieutenant back and capture this beast. The Captain's kusarigama came flew swiftly through the air and hit its intended target: Nemu.

It went through her stomach and caught her like a hook would for a fish, Mayuri pulled the ligament and Nemu back towards him. The Hollow lunged for her and held her in its tightening grip. There it was that Mayuri saw that Nemu was missing almost half her ribs on her side. He had hidden a paralysis drug there, one that had a much similar effect to the poison of his zanpakuto. Then, as if right on cue, the Hollow became dizzy once more; it fell on its back, cracking more of the ice and Nemu had the unfortunate luck to fall between the cracks into the water.

Reader, I cannot recount every single detail there was about capturing this Hollow, that had evaded the Shinigami for almost a month, but I lack the writing experience for adventure and swordplay and would fail to make it as exciting as the occasion in which Kurosaki Ichigo had defeated Barbewire. Nor can I accurately recount it without knowing the present shinigami there and what levels of power did they possess. It was definitely a dangerous Hollow to have evaded and eaten three shinigami before, and even after having taken a bite of the 12th division lieutenant, it was unaffected. But I will tell you that it did ultimately rest on Mayuri's Ashisoji-Jizou to stop the Hollow, now flattened against the ice atop the lake.

He leapt and stabbed his sword deep into the spine of the hollow. In a few seconds the Hollow stopped struggling and breathed long low breathes as it hung on the ice, its eyes still darting wildly. Mayuri looked down at the creature and pulled out a huge needle, plunging it deep into the creature's neck. There was a low sort of whining sound from the Hollow, but all those around knew that what the Captain had just done was a punishment to have it feel pain, but for what? Their question was soon answered.

"That's for appearing in such a cold hellish place and running." he seethed between his teeth. He looked at the scientists who were carefully securing the specimen, "Hurry up! We've already wasted so much time chasing after him! We'll be lucky if we get him secured and prepared for tomorrow!"

As the scientists began loading up the body, Mayuri went back for his lieutenant who was still submerged in the water, barely hanging on to the ice. He dragged his Lieutenant out of the dark waters onto the ice. Her body that had been so warm was as cold as the air he breathed. Some of her limbs had begun to turn violet and dark red. He sat her up in his arms. She coughed up some water and she appeared to have difficulty with breathing. Slowly, the light in those green eyes began to fade into something else, something that is hard to describe into words but can easily be recognized as _gone. _

Mayuri sighed as her form fell limp in his arms. But, Reader, it was a sigh of you would have when something you've done is a success but you still think that it could've gone better. As such: he did not have to use his Hojiku-Zai once, none of his division members were eaten(injuries were not so bad, all for science, he supposed), the specimen was completely paralyzed and could easily be carted to the Sereitei before they had to purify his spirit, and Nemu's body was at least recovered. He looked between the ice-covered Hollow that they were locking up and Nemu's own brutalized body with half of her ribs missing, a leg twisted like battered metal, and a hole in her stomach from where his kusarigama had pierced her.

As they were placing the Hollow onto the storage cart they had brought, one busty scientist from afar questioned her Captain, "Kurotsuchi-taicho, what shall we do with the Lieutenant?"

There was no mistake about it, she was nothing but a corpse now, flesh formed by him. His hands went around her, his white hands contrasting with the black of her uniform. There were some whispers as he carefully hung her over his shoulder, the cold weather had caused the blood within her body to cease its circulation and thus was it the reason why none of it had poured over the mad scientist's clothes. Her braid swung low to his feet as he walked past most of his group.

One young inexperienced Shinigami asked him as he walked by, "Kurotsuchi-taicho, is she alright?" A few more began to question the same thing.

He turned to them, a finger pointed to the storage cart they had brought with the Hollow placed inside. "Someone open this up! I'm not going to carry dead weight on my shoulder for the whole trip back! I'm not some brutish labourer like those in Zaraki's division!"

And as they threw Nemu's corpse inside, there were more whispers.

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><p><strong>It may not seem like romance, but at least he went to her when she was in the water and pulled her out. Plus, I sort of wanted to convey that it didn't really matter what happened to Nemu as long as he had her body, then he could bring her back and not have to go through an entire process of making a new Nemu since all the materials would be there. But still, I hope this shows that he is willing to care about her, just not in front of his subordinates. <strong>


	3. Hold

**Ngoc Chau does not own Bleach.**

**I hope you guys had enjoyed this. Please read and review. Also, if you have any ideas for prompts, please leave them in the review or send them in a PM.**

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><p><strong>Prompt: Hold<strong>

Something had gone wrong, that she knew.

When they returned to the Seireitei, they had placed her in one of the healing tanks and began the reanimation process on her. It was a simple feat with the machinery that Mayuri had created and completed. Her soul was always ready to receive a new shell, but her body had been heavily damaged from that expedition into the real world.  
>She had remembered seeing his face through the water tank that she floated within. She liked to think that he looked relieved that she was alright, but she knew it was most likely that he wouldn't have to spend any of his time reconstructing a new gigai from scratch.<p>

Nemu was about to return to the unconsciousness from whence she came to quicken the healing process, but then something went wrong.

The lights had turned red and something in the fluid made it feel like her lungs were shrinking and shrivelling. She could hear the muffled voice of her Captain yelling, wanting to know who it was that had been responsible for putting her into the tank and starting the process of her resurrection. She opened her mouth, a reflex of wanting to breathe. Someone, maybe her Captain, maybe one of the researchers who had their own zanpakuto ready, broke through the tank with their blade and she recalled how the world around her become darker as she emerged cold and wet from the wreck.  
>She could not breathe. She fell forward, her head becoming lighter like her brains were spilling out and perhaps it was.<p>

The next thing she knew was that she was in the Sogo Kyugo Tsumesho. The room was unusually white and she appeared to be in a single room herself.

As she was about to will herself to drift back into sleep, the soft gentle voice of the Fourth division woke her.  
>"She will be just fine, Kurotsuchi-taicho. We have taken care of her internal injuries. Her body was repaired well before it was brought here, but we had found poison in one of her lungs."<p>

"… the damned boy. He was supposed to take every ounce of the poison out so it wouldn't spread while she was in the tank." She instantly recognized that voice to be that of her Captain's. It was harsh and quieted. Was it meant to be heard, she wondered, by anyone else but him?

"Do not worry about the poison affecting Nemu, we were able to get it all out."

"I'm not worried about Nemu." she heard her name pronounced with a snarl. "The girl is nothing but trouble and everybody around her knows it. Did you simply throw away the rest of the poison inside her or did you save it, at least?"  
>To hear him talk of her like that was nothing new, but even when she wasn't in front of him and he continued speaking like that struck at one of her heartstrings which made her think that it was probably the best time now to try and sleep, to ignore.<p>

"Due to protocol, we have disposed of and destroyed it." Unohana's voice was suddenly cold.

There was a growl from him, then his voice became smooth as silk and sharp, "No matter now," she could just imagine him waving his hand as she always did when he wanted to be nonchalant. "I still have its producer with me here at least. But it would've been efficient to already have the most of his poison for analyzing. I've just finished cleaning up after cutting him open and now I may have to do it again to get more samples."

"Here, I was thinking that you cared a little for your Lieutenant." now her voice warmed up and there was a giggle in it.

"Nemu? I've taken her apart and put her together again countless times. What do I care about a false girl like that?" his, in turn, grew harsher and colder.

"You've brought her to my division when you could've left her to die."

There was a sigh and the whoosh of something thick, "I'm starting new experiments with this unique specimen that I had just caught and it would've been too time-consuming to create another assistant when I could just make do with the old one for the time being."

"Then may I be correct in assuming that you still want to see your Lieutenant or would you rather wait until she has recovered enough to return to work? It will only take another three days or so until you will see her again."

"I want to see her now! If she looks well enough now, I'll just take her out immediately!" his voice boomed.

There was a sort of tut-ting sound. "Very well, but please allow her to sleep. She's been through a lot."

"She's mine! I created her, I'll do what I wish with her."

"Then I can only allow you to enter with myself as well."

An awkward pause. "Fine!"

They came into the room, Unohana held her hands in front of her while Mayuri followed behind with an annoyed look plastered across his face.

"Hello, Nemu. You're awake, I see." she said sweetly. From the folds of her robe, Unohana pulled out a syringe and gave a squirt of it before injecting into Nemu's arm. She winced at the slight pain. It was only something to help her sleep as it was crucial for her, over exertion was not needed for the situation, she said. Mayuri muttered something about controling what was his before turning away to look out the window momentarily. Unohana rubbed her arm and repeated outloud that it was imperative for Nemu to have as much sleep as possible. Then Nemu wasn't sure if she was addressing it to Mayuri or to Nemu herself, trying to make sure that Nemu understood well.

"I can feel my strength returning. Am I well enough to leave soon? Tomorrow, perhaps?" she asked as she could already feel the fluid traveling through her veins.

"I think that you should stay here for a bit longer, dear." she patted Nemu's arm and backed away so that Mayuri could have the chance to see his Lieutenant.

"Yes, Unohana-taicho." Nemu complied. Nemu sighed and furrowed her brows, the lights already becoming a little too much for her.  
>She turned to the 4th division Captain, "Please grant my request, Unohana-taicho, but I would like to ask something of my Captain privately."<p>

"Are you sure?" Unohana looked at Nemu as though she had suddenly proclaimed that the world was ending yesterday.

"I am very much sure." she said confidently to the Captain; like every other shinigami who ever found themselves in the company of Unohana, Retsu: even watching her gave the young Nemu strength.

She bowed ever so slightly then left the room, the door remained open.

Mayuri gave a small laugh, his longest nail touching his chin. "Oh, Nemu. If I didn't think you were so stupid, I would think that you were clever in driving Unohana away." He closed the door shut, always wanting privacy and she understood it well.

"Mayuri-sama. My deepest… apologies." she mumbled as best as she could. As much as she tried to will herself to fight against the anaesthesia, she slowly found herself submitting to the sweet morphine.

He looked at her, his face indifferent, perhaps harsh, but not so much as she had expected. He took his hat off, the blue hair catching her eyes and compelling her to will her head to turn and look at it. His face was calmer like he was more tired and exhausted than at peace. He came back and slowly climbed onto the bed, the weight of his knee causing it to creak as it shifted. She distanced herself from him to the edge of the bed without falling off. His arm draped over her and curled around her.  
>He pulled her close to him as his head rested on the pillow with her own.<br>She noticed that their bodies fit accordingly to each other(despite his zanpakuto that poked her): He was not so much taller than her that he had to twist and twine to be comfortable nor was she too buxom that his form could scarcely cover her. No, her arms fit perfectly within the hold of his. His chin rested pleasantly over the top of her head. Their feet stopped at the same spot.

To her, his breathing was like the blasting of cannons. Or perhaps that was her heart drumming aloud, the rush of the blood through man-made veins.

Her fingers rose so slowly from its side and tangled with his. He made no move to push her away or reject the gesture, but returned the gesture and tangled his fingers with hers: keeping their hands close to their bodies.

Through her back, she felt the mechanical tick of his heart. With a final sigh, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep; she secretly hoped that when she woke up, he would still be there, though she knew that was unlikely.

The moment was enough for her: to be in his arms like this, having someone concerned for her like this.

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><p><strong>How was that? Tell me what you think?<strong>


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